a) Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to drumming apparatuses, and more particularly to a beater adjustment assembly which may be operated by a user's foot wherein the adjustment assembly comprises a ball joint which allows the user to adjust the angle of the beater shaft relative to the axis of rotation.
b) Background Art
Beater assemblies, which are utilized by a drummer's foot to pivot a mallet about an axis to impact a drum, are well known in the art. One such assembly includes U.S. Pat. No. 704,308 which was patented Jul. 8, 1902. As with most of these assemblies, the beater rotates about a shaft and impacts the face of the drum or a cymbal. These assemblies generally comprise a pedal which is contacted by the user's foot, and some sort of a motion translation assembly which translates the vertical motion of one's foot on the pedal to rotation of the mallet about an axis.
A great many improvements over this basic assembly have been conceived, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,081, which includes a chain which connects the foot pedal to the axis of rotation. In some embodiments, a cam-like member can be utilized to adjust the relative motion of the pedal to the swing of a mallet to a desired orientation, such as to create a large amount of leverage for the initial motion of the mallet, and then a shorter lever arm which increases the speed of the mallet once the mallet has initially begun to turn or pivot.
It has also been conceived to slide a ball along a drum stick to provide an enhanced performance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,768 discloses such an assembly, which is utilized to convert a drum stick to a mallet-type assembly. Obviously there is no discourse of utilizing the rotational capabilities of such a joint in interoperation with other mechanical devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,488 discloses a novel method for coupling a plurality of drums in a desired and fixed orientation. FIG. 6 of this patent clearly shows the use of a ball joint to connect the bass drum (2) to a tomtom drum (4). Also shown in FIG. 4 is a highly schematic view of the beater assembly operated by a foot pedal (59). It is clear however that once tensioned, the assembly is configured in FIG. 6 to prohibit movement of the drums (two and four) relative to one another.